Week in photos

Wearing a Mexican sombrero and a Mexican wrestling mask, Lee Jay Thompson of Madness performs during the Vive Latino Festival in Mexico City.

AP Photo

The Deepsea Challenger submersible begins its first 2.5-mile (4-km) test dive off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The submersible is the centerpiece of the Deepsea Challenge, a joint scientific project by explorer and “Titanic” filmmaker James Cameron, the National Geographic Society and Rolex to conduct deep-ocean research.

REUTERS

A man stands on a visitor platform beside the Rhine Falls in the town of Neuhausen south of Schaffhausen. The Rhine Falls are the largest falls in Europe, with an average flow of 700 m3 per second (25,000 cubic ft/sec) the water cascades down the cataracts, which are 450 ft wide and 75 ft high.

REUTERS

President Barack Obama speaks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during their bilateral meeting in Seoul, South Korea, within the framework of the Nuclear Security Summit. World leaders gather on a two-day summit in Seoul to discuss measures of protection nuclear materials and facilities from possible terrorist threats.

EPA

A folk artist performs the Face-changing in Sichuan Opera to mark the birthday of Yellow Emperor in Guiyang, Guizhou Province of China. Yellow Emperor, or Huang Di, is half-historical and half-legendary hero figure in Chinese history and mythology. Yellow Emperor and Emperor Yan are considered the ancestors of Chinese nation.

ZUMAPRESS.com

Christoph Sauser (R) from Switzerland riding for team 36One-Songo-Specialized pushes his bike up a steep hill ahead of Moritz Milatz (C) from Germany riding for team BMC Mountainbike Racing during stage 1 of the Absa Cape Epic mountain bike team stage race in Robertson, South Africa. The Absa Cape Epic is the premier multi day stage race in the world and sees 1,200 cyclists riding in pairs over 780km and climbing more than 16,300 meters, twice the height of Mount Everest over 8 days of racing.

EPA

Trees blossom at the foot of the landmark Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

EPA

The cruise ship Costa Concordia on its’ side off the Island of Giglio, Italy. Scuba divers brought to shore two of the five bodies discovered last week in the wreck of the Costa Concordia. The five bodies – which have yet to bed identified – were located on Thursday, said the Civil Protection department, which is responsible for rescue services in Italy.

EPA

Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, accompanied by his daughter Elizabeth Santorum and son Daniel Santorum, speaks in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, as the court began three days of arguments on the health care law signed by President Barack Obama.

AP Photo

Devotees gather around a bonfire at the shrine of Muslim Sufi saint Hazrat Shah Hussain, popularly known as Madhu Lal Hussain, in eastern Pakistan’s Lahore. Hundreds of devotees attended the 424th annual festival celebrations known as ”Mela Charagan” of Hazrat Madhu Lal Hussain to pay homage to the 16th century saint.

ZUMAPRESS.com

The wife of Italian army soldier Sergeant Michele Silvestri (2nd L), escorted by a soldier, reacts as she walks beside the flag-draped coffin of her husband being carried by soldiers at Ciampino Airport near Rome. According to local media, Sergeant Silvestri, serving with the 21st Engineer Regiment, was killed in action on Saturday when his unit came under mortar fire in the Gulistan district of Farah province, Afghanistan. Five other soldiers were wounded in the attack.

REUTERS

Protesters attack a petrol station with sticks and bricks during a protest against power cuts in Lahore. Dozens of protesters attacked a petrol station, bunt tires and blocked roads for several hours demanding the government to put an end to power cuts in the country.

REUTERS

A Palestinian protester walks amid teargas fired by Israeli forces, during a demonstration outside Ofer Prison near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank in support of the Palestinian prisoner Hana Al-Shalabi who is on a hunger strike. Shalabi who was freed in a prisoner swap with Israel in October was taken to hospital on Mach 19 after being on hunger strike since her arrest in the northern West Bank on February 16, when she was originally ordered detained without trial for six months.

AFP/Getty Images

A model displays a creations by Russian designer Dima Neu during a Fashion Week in Moscow, Russia.

AP Photo

Department of Fish and Wildlife Officer Dustin Prater carries a bear decoy and a frozen bear paw down the trail after a training exercise with his Karelian bear dog named Spencer at the Banner Forest in Port Orchard, Washington State.

AP Photo

A passenger jet flies over a commercial building as it prepares to land at Berlin’s Tegel airport. After over 60 years in operation, Tegel is expected to close in June 2012, as Berlin’s new airport, the Berlin Brandenburg International airport becomes operational.

AFP/Getty Images

Marissa Shadler kisses boyfriend Cory Dutkiewicz goodbye as he prepares to deploy on The USS New York, an amphibious transport dock ship, from Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Va. This is the first deployment of the ship, parts of which were built with steel from the World Trade Center. The New York is part of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and will operate in the Mediterranean Sea and Arabian Gulf.

AP Photo

Hundreds of pall bearers, all wearing black clothes and traditional woven ta’ovala mats around their waists, carry the royal standard draped casket of King George Tupou V on a black and gold catafalque from the Royal Palace at the start of the king’s funeral procession through the capital Nuku’alofa, Tonga.

AFP/Getty Images

Student protesters stand as a casing fired by the police explodes during protests against the government’s plans to hike the fuel price, in Jakarta. Thousands of Indonesians protested nationwide amid tight security to reject the government’s plan to hike the subsidized fuel price in line with rising global oil prices.

AFP/Getty Images

An honor guard prepares for the welcoming ceremony of Ireland’s Prime Minister Enda Kenny at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Kenny is on a three day visit to Beijing.

AFP/Getty Images

Mara Salvatrucha gang members attend a mass celebrated by Archbishop Luigi Pezzuto, Apostolic Nuncio to El Salvador, and head army and police chaplain Monsignor Fabio Colindres at a prison in Ciudad Barrios, El Salvador. According to Dionisio Aristides Umanzor, known as El Sirra, leader of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, leaders of the Mara Salvatrucha and the Mara 18, El Salvador’s two largest street gangs, have reached a truce, reducing the country’s homicide rate, one of the highest in the world.

AP Photo

A labourer works at a shipyard in Yueqing City, Zhejiang Province . China’s industrial firms made total profits of 606 billion yuan ($96 billion) in the first two months of 2012, down 5.2 percent from the same period last year.

REUTERS

Pro-military Malian youth gather in support of the Army coup d’etat in the capital Bamako. The United States said on Monday it would suspend some aid to Mali after last week’s coup, estimating $60-70 million may be affected, but stressed it would maintain food and humanitarian assistance. Five days after an overnight coup, the West African state is in limbo with the whereabouts of President Amadou Toumani Toure uncertain, the putsch leaders disowned by neighbours and world powers, and Malians confused over their country’s fate.

REUTERS

A model presents a creation by designer Hu Sheguang during the China Fashion Week in Beijing, China.

AP Photo

Iraqi national Raihan Ashour Oraibi Alfatlawi sits behind false passports he had possessed as he is presented to the media at Thai Immigration headquarter in Bangkok, Thailand. Thai police arrested Alfatlawi and a Thai woman on Tuesday, while Australian police announced the arrest of four men in Sydney and Melbourne in a multination operation against human trafficking networks.

AP Photo

Japanese challenger Yota Sato, (R) lands a right to Thai defending champion Suriyan Sor Rungvisai during the fourth round of their 12-round WBC super flyweight boxing title bout at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo Tuesday, March 27, 2012. Sato won the crown with a unanimous decision.

AP Photo

A Swimmer runs into the water at dawn at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia.

Getty Images

The waxing crescent moon is seen in the night sky above the San Gabriel Valley, east of downtown Los Angeles, Calif. Sometimes called a young moon, a waxing crescent moon is always seen in the west after sunset, and unlike a lunar eclipse which is the only time the Earth’s shadow can fall on the moon, the shadow on a waxing crescent moon is the moon’s own shadow.

AFP/Getty Images

A man takes photographs of a burning police post during a protest against the government’s plan to raise fuel prices in Makasar. Thousands of Indonesians protested nationwide amid tight security to reject the government’s plan to hike the subsidised fuel price in line with rising global oil prices.

AFP/Getty Images

Firefighters extinguish a fire that engulfed a residential area as locals watch on in Quezon City, east of Manila. The fire damaged some 200 houses.

AFP/Getty Images

A Hungarian woman dressed in traditional garb is soaked by local men in the main street of the village of Holloko, about 100 kms northeast of Budapest, during a media presentation of traditional Easter celebrations in the region. Holloko, a World Heritage site, will celebrate Easter next weekend with the traditional “watering of girls,” a fertility ritual rooted in Hungarian tribes of pre-Christian past, going as far back as the second century AD.

AFP/Getty Images

An eastbound Norfolk Southern train derailed in Noble County, Ind. A freight train hauling hazardous materials derailed on Tuesday, causing a tanker to burst into flames that belched yellow smoke and prompted the evacuation of a handful of nearby homes. Twenty-two cars came off the rails near Ligonier, about 40 miles northwest of Fort Wayne.

AP Photo

Fire fighters help evacuate a street vendor during a warehouse fire in downtown Mexico City. At least 24 people suffered smoke inhalation.

REUTERS

Workers use combines to harvest soybeans in Tangara da Serra, State of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Brazil is the world’s second largest soy producer after the United States and the crop is one of the nation’s principal exports.

AP Photo

Palestinian runner Worood Maslaha, 20, stretches as she practices with her trainer Saher Jura (unseen) at a field in the West Bank village of Asira Ash-Shamaliya near Nablus. Four Palestinians will participate in the London Olympics and joining Maslaha will be Gaza runner Bahaa al-Farra, Cairo-based swimmer Ahmed Jabreel and swimmer Sabeen Kharyoon from Bethlehem.

REUTERS

Michael Noal from Vancouver crush a car with a 52-ton ex-Australian army Centurion Tank called “Maximus” at Tanks for Everything, a company where you can drive a tank over a car in Christchurch. Tanks for Everything in Christchurch has a fleet of eight tanks, armoured personnel carriers and Jeeps, the largest of which can easily crush a family sedan pancake-flat in a crescendo of squealing metal and shattering glass.

AFP/Getty Images

A surfer gets to his feet as people enjoy the continuing warm weather in Polzeath beach in Cornwall, England. The UK is currently experiencing a period of record-breaking temperatures that is set to continue for the rest of the work week.

Getty Images

A woman carries her son after filling up cans with water in the western Yemeni province of Houdieda. Prices for an approximately 2,500-litre container of water that would supply a Sanaa household of four for a maximum of five days leapt to 10,000 rial (about $47) at the peak of fighting last year between pro- and anti-Saleh military units.

REUTERS

Afghan security forces escort Taliban militants clad in Afghan women’s dresses to be presented to the media at the Afghan intelligence department in Mehterlam, Laghman province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan.

AP Photo

A billboard displaying the newest multi-state Mega Millions lottery jackpot of $500 million to a single winner is seen in Atlanta, Georgia. The sign changed moments earlier from $476 million. The Mega Millions soared upward after no one matched all the winning numbers in Tuesday’s drawing. Friday’s drawing is now the largest jackpot in North American history.

EPA

An Indonesian student tries to beat policemen during a protest against the government’s plan to hike prices of fuel in Surabaya.

AFP/Getty Images

A family feeds seagulls at the port on the Yangon river in Yangon.

AFP/Getty Images

A demonstrator runs during the general strike in Barcelona. Spanish unions angry over economic reforms are waging a general strike, challenging a conservative government not yet 100 days old and joining other troubled European workers in venting their frustration on the street.

AP Photo

A boy demonstrates martial arts during the election campaign for the Union Solidarity and Development (USDP) party in Yangon.

REUTERS

Thousands of people protest against recent labor reform at Puerta del Sol square in Madrid, Spain, during a general strike day.

AP Photo

A Mega Millions lottery contestant buys his ticket for Friday’s $540-million game at a corner newsstand in New York. Forget setting up a charity or establishing a trust, the winner of the $540 million Mega Millions jackpot could save teachers’ jobs or help pay for Medicaid-funded doctor appointments in their home state just by paying taxes.

AP Photo

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Gilad Shalit five months after his release in Tel Aviv, Israel. Gilad Shalit was released on October 18, 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange, after being held captive by Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip for more than five years.

Getty Images

An anti-government protester runs for cover after throwing a Molotov cocktail at a riot-police armored vehicle during a protest in the village of Sitra, south of Manama. Protesters from the village of Sitra took to the streets to show their support for what they claim to be martyrs who were killed during the year-long unrest in the country.

REUTERS

A young woman walks past blossoming cherry trees with an umbrella in Erfurt, Germany. Despite wind, rain and cooler temperatures, spring has arrived in Germany.

ZUMAPRESS.com

An Afghan carries a bundle of wood in Nahr-i Sufi. The Afghan economy has always been based on agriculture, despite the fact that only 13 percent of its total land is arable and just eight percent is currently cultivated.

AFP/Getty Images

A woman looks at her Mega Millions lottery ticket bought at a convenience store in Manhattan. The jackpot is at a record level because no one has matched the magic five numbers and Mega Ball since January 24 — a full 18 drawings with no winner.

AFP/Getty Images

A Palestinian youth climbs over a fruit stall as an Israeli mounted policeman disperses hundreds of Palestinian protesters during a demonstration marking Land Day in east Jerusalem. Demonstrators waving huge Palestinian flags gathered for Land Day, sparking scuffles with hundreds of Israeli police who were seen beating some of the crowd.

AFP/Getty Images

Children wearing hoods as penitents take part in a procession at a school during the eve of Holy Week in the Andalusian capital of Seville, southern Spain. Hundreds of processions take place around the clock in Spain during Holy Week, drawing thousands of visitors.

REUTERS

A farmer throws fertilizer on a rice paddy field in La Duong village, outside Hanoi. Vietnam’s rice exports to neighboring China could climb six-fold this year.

REUTERS

Israeli border policemen stand between a truck spraying a foul-smelling liquid and burning tires during clashes at the Kalandia checkpoint between the West Bank city of Ramallah and Jerusalem. Palestinians clashed with Israeli soldiers and police in the West Bank and East Jerusalem on Friday, during protests to mark Land Day, an annual commemoration of the 1976 shooting of six Arab-Israelis.

EPA

President Obama picks up a presidential challenge coin after Marine Sgt, Kristie Ness, right, dropped the coin the president presented her at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Ness received the coin prior to her last flight mission on Marine One.

AP Photo

Muslims circle the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque before Friday prayers in the holy city of Mecca.

REUTERS

A large tree crushes a parked car outside an apartment building early in Portland, Ore. The National Weather Service says heavy rains have filled many streams and rivers in western Oregon and much of the area is under a flood warning or watch.

AP Photo

Indian police detain a Tibetan protester during a demonstration against the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao outside his hotel in New Delhi, India.

AP Photo

Emergency workers at the scene of a fatal landslide that involved a bus and a car between Martina and Vinadi, Switzerland. Swiss police reports that a bus and a car were badly damaged in the accident in which the bus driver died.

EPA

Protesters run as police fire tear gas during a protest against planned fuel price hikes, in front of the parliament building in Jakarta, Indonesia. According to reports, over 10,000 protesters – students, farmers and union members – are descending on big cities all over the country to protest the government’s plans to increase the price of subsidized fuel by 30 percent.

Getty Images

A Cambodian boy is chained to a power pole in Battambang province. An irate Cambodian father chained his teenage son by the neck to the power pole to punish him for skipping school to play online game. The 40-year-old father, who works as a motorbike taxi driver, fled the scene after the incident and is now wanted on child abuse charges.

AFP/Getty Images

A Tibetan man screams as he runs engulfed in flames after self-immolating at a protest in New Delhi, India, ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the country. The Tibetan activist lit himself on fire at the gathering and was rushed to hospital with unknown injuries.